Polls open for Atlanta mayoral runoff

ATLANTA — Today is the day Atlanta will decide which woman will become its next mayor.

Polls officially opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mary Norwood spent Monday at city hall doing the people’s business but they also did some campaigning before Tuesday’s election. And with the race coming to an end, some people are now deciding who they plan to endorse.

We'll have complete, LIVE Team 2 Coverage of the election throughout the day on Channel 2 Action News

Outside city hall, more endorsements came in for Bottoms.  Prominent attorneys and progressives stood with Keisha.

“I have no doubt in my mind that Ms. Bottoms will surround herself with a team of compassionate and thoughtful people with the political and political savvy to make this city better,” said assistant professor Maurice Hobson.

But across town, a civil rights activist said he’s endorsing Mary Norwood.

“Doctor King said it best, ‘people want to be judged based on their character, not the color of their skin,’ that works not just for white people, but for African Americans,” said reverend Markel Hutchins.

Hutchins said he supports Norwood because of her decades of public service.

“What Atlanta needs now is not just someone who is desiring of the office of mayor, but someone who legitimately wants to serve the public,” Hutchins said.

Both candidates were at Monday’s city council meeting after the Tuesday’s election, this will be one of their last. One will become mayor and the other will become a private citizen.

Cox Media Group